A real puzzler to the end (From Swindon Advertiser)

A real puzzler to the end

7:30pm Thursday 28th January 2010

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BE PREPARED to be left scratching your head until the last minute at the Phoenix Players’ latest production.

We were guessing who was behind all the mysterious goings-on at the Chalke household from the interval, and despite thinking we were being incredibly clever we were still miles off the truth.

This is a well-written play by Alan Ayckbourn that the company has done well choosing, performing and putting together.

The cast was well chosen and each played their part well.

Eric Partington was perfectly over the top as the slightly eccentric pianist Mortimer and Dennis Breakspear was very convincing as wannabe detective Norris Honeywell.

And Melanie Roberts made the perfect sulky teenager.

At times the cast spoke their lines over eachother and it wasn’t entirely clear whether this was planned or first night nerves.

If it was planned it didn’t feel natural enough for me, people stopped far too abruptedly rather than the normal tailing off of a sentence that happens during that situation in real life.

But it didn’t detract from some of the best am dram performances I’ve seen in a while.

On the whole Sandra Gilbert’s direction was very good, with the characters using the stage well.

The set (the living room in the house) was beautifully designed and constructed with no detail left out.

The one thing they could have done differently was the set changes.

While there were only two of them they were fairly long, and were mainly just to change over the crockery on the table.

This easily could have been incorporated into one of the actor’s actions without seeming out of place and would have made things flow more smoothly.

On the whole though, this was a very good effort from a group that has been delighting Swindon audiences for more than 50 years.

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